Elizabeth Valdez v. HHS - Influenza, significant aggravation of somatic symptom disorder (2024)

Elizabeth Valdez filed a petition alleging that she suffered small fiber neuropathy, neuropathy, paresthesia, weakness, and related complications, or a significant aggravation of chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia, following an influenza vaccination on October 10, 2015. She later amended her petition to allege that her symptoms constituted a significant aggravation of a pre-existing somatic symptom disorder.

The court found that Ms. Valdez did not establish a causal link between the vaccination and her condition.

The decision noted that Ms. Valdez has a long history of somatic symptom disorder, first diagnosed in 2006, and that her symptoms fluctuated throughout her life.

Her expert, Dr. LaFrance, argued that the flu vaccine significantly aggravated her pre-existing somatic symptom disorder by acting as a precipitating event.

However, the court found Dr. Dimsdale's opinion more persuasive, stating that the "3Ps" (predisposing, precipitating, and perpetuating factors) do not establish precipitating events as causes of somatic symptom disorders.

The court also found that Ms. Valdez's pre- and post-vaccination conditions did not demonstrate a significant aggravation, as her post-vaccination symptoms were consistent with the fluctuating course of her ongoing somatic symptom disorder and her pattern of misattributing symptoms.

Furthermore, the court determined that the vaccination was merely a preceding event, not a precipitating cause, and that Ms. Valdez's symptoms were more likely a result of her underlying anxiety and somatic symptom disorder.

Although Ms. Valdez reported symptoms the day after her vaccination, the court concluded that she failed to prove a logical sequence of cause and effect implicating the flu vaccine as the cause of her condition or its aggravation.

Therefore, the petition was denied.